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Penelope’s web: using a-latrotoxin to untangle the mysteries of exocytosis

Silva, John Paul, Suckling, Jason, Ushkaryov, Yuri (2009) Penelope’s web: using a-latrotoxin to untangle the mysteries of exocytosis. Journal of Neurochemistry, 111 (2). pp. 275-290. ISSN 1471-4159. (doi:10.1111/j.1471-4159.2009.06329.x) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:40389)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-4159.2009.06329.x

Abstract

For more than three decades, the venom of the black widow spider and its principal active components, latrotoxins, have been used to induce release of neurotransmitters and hormones and to study the mechanisms of exocytosis. Given the complex nature of ?-latrotoxin (?-LTX) actions, this research has been continuously overshadowed by many enigmas, misconceptions and perpetual changes of the underlying hypotheses. Some of the toxin’s mechanisms of action are still not completely understood. Despite all these difficulties, the extensive work of several generations of neurobiologists has brought about a great deal of fascinating insights into pre-synaptic processes and has led to the discovery of several novel proteins and synaptic systems. For example, ?-LTX studies have contributed to the widespread acceptance of the vesicular theory of transmitter release. Pre-synaptic receptors for ?-LTX – neurexins, latrophilins and protein tyrosine phosphatase ?– and their endogenous ligands have now become centrepieces of their own areas of research, with a potential of uncovering new mechanisms of synapse formation and regulation that may have medical implications. However, any future success of ?-LTX research will require a better understanding of this unusual natural tool and a more precise dissection of its multiple mechanisms.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2009.06329.x
Additional information: number of additional authors: 2;
Uncontrolled keywords: a-latrotoxin, exocytosis, latrophilin, neurexin, protein tyrosine phosphatase, synapse.
Subjects: Q Science
R Medicine > RS Pharmacy and materia medica
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Natural Sciences > Medway School of Pharmacy
Depositing User: Stewart Brownrigg
Date Deposited: 07 Mar 2014 00:05 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:15 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/40389 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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